Seven missiles struck critical infrastructure in the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, according to the city’s mayor.
“Today at 3 a.m. (local time) it was chaotic shelling of the city,” Oleksandr Sienkevych said.
“I cannot think of any explanation for this shelling, as none of the military objects or warehouses were hit. Critical infrastructure and objects in the vicinity to the civilians were hit. Luckily, there are no casualties.”
Seven S-300 missiles had been fired at the southern Ukrainian city, he added.
Sienkevych said months of shelling has destroyed about 540 multi-story apartment blocks, “including six which are impossible to restore.” About 680 private homes have been damaged and 121 people killed in the city.
Mykolaiv lies close to the front lines dividing Ukrainian and Russian troops along the regional border with Kherson.
Out of 480,000 Mykolaiv residents before the war, only around 230,000 remain in the city, according to Sienkevych.
“I do recommend Mykolaiv residents to leave the city, as the city is being constantly shelled,” he said.
Two of the missiles hit and destroyed a warehouse full of humanitarian aid, Vitalii Kim, head of Mykolaiv region military administration, said.
Some background: Fighting has intensified in southern Ukraine as recently supplied US weapons have bolstered the country’s military ability to strike down Russian targets, causing fresh problems for Moscow.
Earlier this month, there were huge explosions in several occupied areas in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The available evidence, from satellite imagery and Western analysts, is that the targeting has been highly effective.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that as the West continues to supply Ukraine with more long-range weaponry, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), the Kremlin’s geographical objectives in Ukraine would extend beyond the eastern Donbas region into the country’s south.
CNN’s Radina Gigova, Sana Noor Haq and Jack Guy contributed reporting to this post.